The Army’s top enlisted leader announced Thursday that he would be pulling down his individual social media presence and “going all in” on the Army’s pages.
“It’s not about the name tape. It’s not about SMA Weimer. It’s not about the individual. It’s all about the Army,” Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer said in a video posted to X on Thursday. “We’re going all in on the Army’s social media pages. Everything that this office does is in support of the Army, and the way we communicate should reflect that.”
Weimer’s spokesperson, Master Sgt. Daniel Carter said the decision was made by Weimer himself and that the goal is to extend the reach of the Army’s primary platforms which have a larger following. During his time as sergeant major, Weimer has maintained a presence on X and Instagram. Carter said those pages would be deleted by the end of the week.
In the video, Weimer said the Army is going in a “new direction” and would continue to highlight war fighting, readiness and lethality themes on its platforms.
“Keep it up. Stay laser focused. And remember we are responsible for a war fighting culture,” he said.
As sergeant major of the Army, Weimer is in charge of issues that impact the enlisted force, such as quality of life and soldier pay. It’s unclear if the larger Army platforms would include quality of life topics, which it has traditionally refrained from doing.
The decision by Weimer to reduce his presence online stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston, who embraced social media and engaged directly with soldiers either personally or through his public affairs team.
The announcement comes amid a broader social media strategy shift within the Army, including the service standing up a new “Creative Reserve” of its own soldiers. The goal of the initiative is “to better tell the Army story because they’re reaching into these markets we [big Army] can’t pay to reach,” according to Kris Saling, who is leading the effort. The idea was born out of the Army Recruiting Command’s innovation directorate which is experimenting with a variety of novel ways to reach potential recruits.
When it comes to quality of life, Task & Purpose previously reported on the Army’s struggle to curtail social media posts from those in the ranks — soldiers who often feel their only recourse to get an issue addressed is to post about it online.
Saling said they are still figuring out what the parameters look like for Army influencer content that is certified by the service “but we wanna be able to push topics out for folks to discuss if they’re willing” and “to provide a means” via their Army audience or “whoever it is picking up on the various platforms to actively do something about it.”
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